reviews

​Greensky Bluegrass (from the album All for Money available on Big Blue Zoo Records)All for Money proves yet again that at times Greensky Bluegrass is more a Rock band than Bluegrass combo. File All for Money under Jam Band as Greensky Bluegrass exhibit all the symptoms of the genre; epic musical explorations within marathon sets, psychedelia leanings that wander through the songs and a caravan of traveling fans parking alongside their tour bus. Bluegrass for Greensky Bluegrass serves as a living and present base as well as a personal springboard for their own musical brand.Album opener “Do It Alone” begins with a sound-bite of static heartbeat with the hint of an EDM pulse, followed by a chopped mandolin strums and what could be considered out of place (but also fitting) ambient rock notes. The scolding admonition of ‘heaven’s gonna pass you up for living life like this’ comes off like a lecture, with the first solo break featuring mandolin and banjo speaking with the same intensity.

While they do nod to Bluegrass purists (especially with “Murder of Crows”), tunes like “Courage For The Road” live as a perfect cut for the jam band canon; uplifting and speedy, lyrically positive, an overall good vibe, and of course, an extended musical jam. The final fifteen seconds of “It’s Not Mine Anymore” sound like it could have been borrowed from the Built to Spill playbook, with its ending quickly moving into the contemplative “Do Harm.” Here is where dobro player, Anders Beck, shines, whether from his subtle fills or solos. While Greensky Bluegrass clearly have the instrumental chops, the songwriting of All for Money comes across as a mighty weapon for the band.The title track of All for Money closes out the record as a straight-ahead Bluegrass number that finds Greensky Bluegrass teasing that they may ‘do it all for money’ although knowing the jam-band and festival mentality where music comes first, that is hardly the case.